Deferment of Mortgage Style Student Loans

The request was partially successful.

Dear Student Loans Company Limited,

I wish to request the following information under the FOIA 2000:

For questions 1 to 5, please provide data by year, from the introduction of Mortgage Style Student Loans until as recently as possible:
1) How many borrowers were granted deferment on their loans?

2) How many borrowers have been rejected for deferment on their loans?

3) How many borrowers have had an application for deferment rejected because they did not use a Deferment Application Form?

4) How many borrowers have had an application for deferment accepted without using a Deferment Application Form?

5) How many borrowers have had a request for a deferment application form refused by SLC staff?

6) Do you keep transcripts or logs of all phone calls between borrowers and SLC
staff? If so, for how long are these records held by SLC?

7) Please provide me with all email correspondence between SLC staff in relation to
SLC staff refusing loan deferment applications for any reason whatsoever.

8) Has Student Loans Company liaised with Erudio Student Loans in relation to the
development and implementation of the Deferral Application Form that has been used
by Erudio Student Loans?

Thank you for considering my request and I look forward to receiving your response.

Yours faithfully,

A. Patterson

FOI Publication Scheme, Student Loans Company Limited

Dear A Patterson

Thank you for your email dated 03/10/2014 requesting information under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000. Your request has been logged under
reference 197-14. Please quote this reference in future communications.

A full response will be issued in due course, no later than 31/10/2014.

Yours sincerely

Louise Chapman
Legal Executive
Student Loans Company Limited
100 Bothwell Street
Glasgow
G2 7JD

Tel: 0141 243 3062 (ext 33062)

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FOI Publication Scheme, Student Loans Company Limited

Dear A Patterson

We refer to your email dated requesting the following information under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“FOIA”):

“For questions 1 to 5, please provide data by year, from the introduction
of Mortgage Style Student Loans until as recently as possible:
1) How many borrowers were granted deferment on their loans?

2) How many borrowers have been rejected for deferment on their loans?

3) How many borrowers have had an application for deferment rejected
because they did not use a Deferment Application Form?

4) How many borrowers have had an application for deferment accepted
without using a Deferment Application Form?

5) How many borrowers have had a request for a deferment application form
refused by SLC staff?

6) Do you keep transcripts or logs of all phone calls between borrowers and
SLC staff? If so, for how long are these records held by SLC?

7) Please provide me with all email correspondence between SLC staff in
relation to SLC staff refusing loan deferment applications for any reason
whatsoever.

8) Has Student Loans Company liaised with Erudio Student Loans in relation
to the development and implementation of the Deferral Application Form that
has been used by Erudio Student Loans?”

Response

We note that your questions are verbatim to those raised by another user of
whatdotheyknow.com. The full history of the other user’s requests can be
found at: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/user/jona..., which
is where we assume you have obtained the exact same questions.

We have previously indicated that your question number 7 alone would exceed
the appropriate limit set out in the Freedom of Information and Data
Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004. The limit
applying to us is £450 or 2.5 days (calculated to be 18 hours of staff time
at £25 per hour)

The information is therefore exempt under section 12(1) of the FOIA and in
accordance with section 17(1) of the FOIA this letter constitutes a Refusal
Notice in respect of your request.

We note that you submitted previous requests for information relating to
Mortgage Style student loans, and your current request has been submitted
following the review of another whatdotheyknow.com user’s requests, which
make it clear what we can provide within the appropriate costs limit and
what would exceed the appropriate costs limit. As with the other user’s
requests, we can provide a response to questions 1-6 and question 8 within
the appropriate costs limit, if you wish to submit a revised request. Any
revised request will be treated as a new request for information.

Internal review process

I trust that my answer to you is satisfactory; however, if you are unhappy
with the decisions made by me in relation to your freedom of information
request, you may ask SLC for an internal review.

Any such appeal would be conducted by John Brown, Company Secretary, 100
Bothwell Street, Glasgow, G2 7JD. You may request a review by writing to
John Brown or by emailing the FOI Office
([SLC request email]). In the event that John Brown took part
in the original decision, then David Wallace, Deputy Chief Executive, will
conduct the review. SLC will only consider requests for internal reviews
which are made within 3 months of the date of our original response (except
in exceptional circumstances).

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision.
The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Yours sincerely

Louise Chapman
Legal Executive
Student Loans Company Limited
100 Bothwell Street
Glasgow
G2 7JD

Tel: 0141 243 3062 (ext 33062)

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Dear Student Loans Company Limited,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Student Loans Company Limited's handling of my FOI request 'Deferment of Mortgage Style Student Loans'.

In response to the same questions asked by another user of Whatdotheyknow.com, SLC stated:
"Requests 1 and 2 – deferment statistics showing the number of rejected
accepted, incomplete and deferment applications can be provided for the years we hold records for. Please note that records are not held for all years. Copies of correspondence would still fall under the appropriate costs limit and/or answers to questions, confirming what we do and do not record", details here:

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/2...

I have made the same requests for information as the other user's requests 1 and 2, yet you have now indicated that my FOI request exceeds the cost limit, which contradicts your response to the other user.

Could you please therefore review my request to determine the actual cost of providing the information. If the cost limit would in fact be exceeded, then please provide the requested information, excluding that requested under question 7.

Also, the ICO's guidance on time limits for compliance under the FOIA states:

"Authorities should regard the 20 working day limit as a ‘long stop’, in other words the latest possible date on which they may issue a response. It also follows that an authority which provides its response close to, or on, the final day of the 20 working day limit ought to be able to both account for, and justify, the length of time taken to comply with the request".

As SLC has taken the maximum 20 working days to respond to my FOI request, and had previously responded to another user regarding an identical request, could you please account for, and justify, the length of time taken to respond to my request.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/d...

Yours faithfully,

A. Patterson

FOI Publication Scheme, Student Loans Company Limited

Dear A Patterson

Your request for an internal review has been allocated reference IR06-14
and will be referred to our Company Secretary for consideration in due
course. Please note that whilst there are no statutory timescales for
responding to internal review requests, we aim to respond within 20 working
days.

Yours sincerely

Louise Chapman
Legal Executive
Student Loans Company Limited
100 Bothwell Street
Glasgow
G2 7JD

Tel: 0141 243 3062 (ext 33062)

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FOI Publication Scheme, Student Loans Company Limited

2 Attachments

Dear A Patterson

Following your request for an internal review, your request for a review of
the issue of the Refusal Notice in relation to provision of information in
accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 has been considered by
our Company Secretary.

The Company Secretary has upheld the original decision. However, the
answers to the questions we can answer with the appropriate costs limit are
being disclosed - see Appendix 1. Please refer to the attached internal
review decision for detailed reasons.

If you are dissatisfied with this decision you may request the Information
Commissioner to investigate. Full details for the Information Commissioner
can be found at the following link:

http://ico.org.uk/concerns/getting/repor...

Yours sincerely

Louise Chapman
Legal Executive
Student Loans Company Limited
100 Bothwell Street
Glasgow
G2 7JD

Tel: 0141 243 3062 (ext 33062)

(See attached file: internal review decision 27.11.14.pdf)(See attached
file: Appendix 1.pdf)

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